The gentle rain and a wet nose awaken a simple fellow from his slumber. The sky is brightening slowly with the dawn, as he reminds himself that today is the day. Today is the first day of a new commitment; a healthier commitment. Resolute in his desire to tackle such an endeavor, he begins the first of 1,000 miles.

Driving back from an entirely entertaining and yet nearly entirely unhealthy weekend, the song "I'm gonna be" by The Proclaimers came upon the radio. Singing along, our protagonist's mind drifted to the actual words of the song "I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man who walk a thousand miles to fall down at your door". Though none of the members of The Proclaimers actually walked 1,000 miles with a goal in mind in preparation of the song, our dear fellow wondered what it would take to complete the goal. He has spent many days walking along various gravel, paved, and dirt paths though he never counted the miles. So out of this drive home came the mission: To run 1,000 miles within the next 5 months and 26 days, with the last mile arriving at his beloved's door.

Why?

The same reason anyone has a personal goal. Whether that goal be related to art, fitness, money, or leisure each person who sets a goal for the reason of achieving it. Completing 1,000 miles of running will not change the world, it will not summon any accolades, nor secure riches unknown. The goal is one of personal development, both physical and mental. In the process, this journey will prepare our humble protagonist for the moment when he crosses the threshold into his beloved's arms.

Roughly a daily journal will be kept, in a narrative of both the triumphs and pitfalls. Though not a strict vegan, our protagonist understands the benefits of such a life, and will try to reduce animal derived sources of food from his life. To keep a focus on what is eaten, the foods consumed will be recorded along with the distances covered each day (including those days where health may not be at the forefront of his mind).

Day 1:

With a lengthy introduction completed, a brief entry has been created for the day. Although the day began slowly, a breakfast of toast and peanut butter helped to power a 3 mile run. A single succulent wild harvested raspberry, hanging quietly along the side of the trail as a small reward. The afternoon/evening meal of a cream of cauliflower soup and a fresh apple rounded out the day.

A bright sunny morning opens to a warm and welcoming day. To keep from becoming burnt out too quickly, the day does not contain any running for our plucky protagonist. Instead, the kitchen calls.

One of the hardest parts of staying vegan is avoiding the delicious sweet flesh of dead animals. To this effect, finding adequate substitutes which provide the similar mouth-feel without is essential. Today, the culinary adventure takes us into the realm of tuna salads.

Tuna salad is a main stay of the Midwest, for a quick and simple lunch time meal. The creamy textures acting as a simple medium to carry onions, pickles, spices and tuna onto the palate combines for a filling and hearty sandwich. However, with the mere title of "tuna salad" conveys a rather carnivorous conviction which is to be avoided.

What is a vegan to do?

Scanning the ether of the Internet, our protagonist found a surprising substitute. By combining roughly pureed chickpeas and nutritional yeast, a texture and flavor of tuna is replicated. When combined in the above mentioned seasonings, the taste is rather similar. Thus our vegan friend is able to stave off temptation of meat for another day.

Yet chickpeas alone, does not a muscular man make. So on this off day, push ups were the tool of choice to encourage health. This work out method is a discouraging one for our hero, since the pectoral endurance levels rival that of many prepubescent school yards. Yet progress must be made! So many sets of 2 were completed with 10 to 15 seconds between them were completed. This may have hardly been the strongest or most efficient method of training from an objective stand point, yet the most effective training regimes are ones that are followed.

Today the house mates come back from their river trip down the Yampa in Colorado. This could only mean one thing: Baking! After a long trip our protagonist has always found that coming home to a delicious smelling house is a nice way to be welcomed back. As such, this provided the perfect opportunity to bake banana nut bread (of course the fact that three bananas were ripening in his car over the long weekend, unused from a camping trip only solidified the decision). A quick search in the household cookbooks and a vegan bread was selected. Unfortunately the recipe called for 6 bananas, and as one of the still present housemates reduced the fruit's population by a third, the resulting mix was left a bit too dry to be usable. The book suggested mixing in an egg into the batter if the required number of bananas were not present, so one more egg was consumed in the world. Since it was only one egg, split upon four housemates, the exception was allowed.

As for the exercise, today was a running day. Unfortunately the weather was not notified of the day's activities, and a drizzle continued throughout the day. Finally around five in the evening, the rain broke and our protagonist laced up. Running a street course, the jaunt began with a 1 mile incline, which passed by without ill effect. At the top of the hill, the rain began to continue once more and the calves were feeling an intense work out. Knowing that the run is less than half over, our hero began to lose heart. But lose heart he did not, for he pushed through, and a slight decline in a series of small hills gave the reprieve he needed.

At the end of four heart pounding songs, the turn was made, taking note of the address to measure the distance later on. Knowing a few small hills and a long decline were all that were left, renewed focus gave a surge of energy to the legs. The rain intensified as the cars sped by, giving a noxious fumes collected within the spray. Yet this did not slow our hero, for he was on the downward mile. Speeding down to the finish, 3.4 more miles were notched onto the journey.

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